Iowa pork producers have reached a new milestone as 15,000 Iowa pork producers, employees and others with pork industry interests have been certified through the Pork Quality Assurance (PQA) Plus® program.

Monday 2 April 2012 (5 years 10 months 20 days ago)

Iowa pork producers have reached a new milestone as 15,000 Iowa pork producers, employees and others with pork industry interests have been certified through the Pork Quality Assurance (PQA) Plus® program.

PQA Plus was launched in 2007 as a continuous improvement program outlining 10 good production practices in the areas of food safety and animal well-being. Individuals are first certified through an educational program. Following certification, producers invite PQA Plus advisors to conduct an objective assessment of practices on the farm and work with the advisor to implement improvements. Individual certification and site assessments must be completed every three years to maintain PQA Plus certification and site status.

More than 5,800 Iowa pork production sites also have completed the site assessment portion of PQA Plus. According to the National Pork Board, more than 80 percent of U.S. pork currently originates from a PQA Plus-assessed site. Additionally, nearly 8,000 Iowa pig-handlers have completed the Transport Quality Assurance (TQA) training.